Siyah Pembe Üçgen

Black Pink Triangle Izmir Association Meets Justice and Development Party Representatives

Source: Eda Ebru Naneci, “AK Parti’den eşcinsel açılımı”, (“LGBT Initiative of the AK Party”), egemeclisi.com, 21 January 2015 , http://egemeclisi.com//politika/55300/ak_parti_den_escinsel_acilimi

Siyah Pembe Üçgen (Black Pink Triangle) Izmir Association, a homosexual organization, visited AK Party (Justice and Development Party) Public Relations Vice President Lütfi Tuna in his offices at the Ak Party Izmir Provincial Department.

As a part of their visits and meetings with non-governmental organizations, associations and political parties, the Black Pink Triangle Izmir Association of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Studies and Solidarity Against Discrimination organised a meeting with Vice President of Public Relations of the Ak Party in Izmir. Meeting the members of LGBTI (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex) association Black Pink Triangle in AK Party Izmir Provincial Department, Tuna said, “They took this step and we are glad. We welcomed them in our party.”

Our door is wide open

Tuna, saying that they talked in a casual manner during their visit: “If our party’s executive council takes decisions and plans projects, we will announce them in the following periods. They did not have any demands from our party. We just got to know each other. These are important activities. Our party welcomes all sections of society. Our doors are wide open to all people.”

We listened to them and took the necessary notes…

Tuna emphasized that they talked about problems experienced by many sections of society and added that the state and the nation have the power to act on this. Tuna said, “They shared with us the problems they experience. The problems they mention are common problems of most parts of the society. We will definitely take actions regarding these problems. Our state and our nation are strong enough to do this. We will try to do what is necessary. We have the congress ahead and these issues will be talked in more detail after the congress. They talked about the projects our Government carries out with the European Union. They told us about the problems they experience. And we listened and took the necessary notes. This was an introductory meeting,” said Tuna.

Ekogenç’s closure case ends: work in the area of sexual orientation is not “contrary to morality”

Source: Ömer Akpınar, “Ekogenç’in kapatma davası sona erdi: Cinsel yönelim çalışmaları “ahlâka aykırı” değil!” (“Ekogenç’s closure case comes to an end: work in the area of sexual orientation is not ‘contrary to morality’!”) Kaos GL, 19 December 2014, http://www.kaosgl.com/sayfa.php?id=18298

The case concerning the closure of Ekogenç, which was initiated because the expression “sexual orientation” occurs in its charter, and because it did not adopt an organizational model based on hierarchy, has concluded. The court has ruled that it is not “contrary to morality” for Ekogenç to be active in the area of sexual orientation.

Work in the area of sexual orientation is not “contrary to law and morality”

The fourth session of the closure case, initiated by the Van Governor’s Office against the Ekogenç Youth and Ecology Association, was held today at Van’s Fifth Civil Court of First Instance. The court ruled that Ekogenç’s activity in the area of sexual orientation does not conflict with the expression “no association may be established with aims that are contrary to law and morality,” stated in the 56th Article of the Turkish Civil Code.

In the previous session of the case held last month, the court, stating that there was a “formal flaw” in Ekogenç’s charter, had granted an extension until today’s session and accepted the İzmir Black Pink Triangle Association’s request to participate as a joint plaintiff.

The court accepted LGBTI organizations as joint plaintiffs

In today’s session the case was concluded after the necessary correction in the charter was made. The court also accepted the Kaos GL Association’s lawyer Hayriye Kara’s application to participate. Kara recalled that in 2005, when the Kaos GL Association was founded, the association was involved in a closure request because of its area of work, yet the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office did not initiate a lawsuit against the association.

“Organizing is freedom”

After the trial, Ekogenç made a press statement, saying that “the ruling supported a democratic, participatory, horizontal organizational model.” Explaining that the Van Governor’s Office’s claim of immorality had been answered, and that the ruling had occasioned a re-examination of the concept of morality, Ekogenç said that “organizing is freedom.”

The Black Pink Triangle İzmir Association, the Kaos GL Association, the Left-wing Law Association, the Life Woman Environment Culture and Business Cooperative (YAKA-KOOP), the Van Women’s Association, Hêvî LGBTI, and Ahtamara LGBTI Wan were signatories to the statement.

Demet Yanardağ: “Turns out I had to pay off the state to be a prostitute”

Source: Yıldız Tar, “Orospu olmak için devlete para yedirmem gerekiyormuş,” (“‘Turns out I had to pay off the state to be a prostitute”), KaosGL, 16 September 2014, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=17534

“It turns out that in order to be a prostitute in this country, I had to pay money to the state within the framework of the Law of Misdemeanors, grease the palms of the mafia as well as the police and at times, sleep with people for free.”

Below is the interview we conducted with Demet Yanardağ, from the Black Pink Triangle Association, where she recounts the difficulties she faced in her working life as well as the nature of sex work.

Yanardağ explains that she chose to study tourism and hotel management at university thinking that this was a relatively easy line of work where she would not be discriminated against. However, she says that “things did not work out quite as she [I] thought.”

demetyanardag

“Men think you are a sex doll”

“I thought that someone like me could work in the tourism industry, that I wouldn’t encounter people judging me. I graduated and soon found out that this would not be the case. Not a single hotel would hire me as an intern. I couldn’t find an internship. Then, a close friend of mine arranged for me to start interning at a five-star hotel. During my internship, both the hotel clients and the staff harassed me incessantly. People kept offering sexual relations in a way that could be considered harassment. That’s when I understood that if you are a trans individual, you have to be a sex worker. If you are employed in other lines of work, you will be harassed much more so than biological females. People see you as a potential sex doll. When men get boners, they see you like sex dolls they could use to satisfy themselves.”

As Yanardağ was continually harassed by hotel clients and staff, she thought to herself, “society allocates this role to me; I must be a prostitute.” Here is how she decided to become a sex worker:

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